Diabetes Treatment Bismarck ND

This page provides useful content and local businesses that can help with your search for Diabetes Treatment. You will find helpful, informative articles about Diabetes Treatment, including "Dodging Diabesity", "Trouble from Head to Toe", and "The Female Diabetes Danger Zone". You will also find local businesses that provide the products or services that you are looking for. Please scroll down to find the local resources in Bismarck, ND that will answer all of your questions about Diabetes Treatment.

Dodging Diabesity

As obesity becomes America’s biggest health menace, all that excess poundage is fueling a surge in diabetes and related maladies. This phenomenon, now referred to as diabesity, threatens to overwhelm the entire healthcare system. The choice is simple: Either fashion an anti-diabetes lifestyle—or get caught in the crush.

By Lisa James

July 2006

The numbers are grim. According to the federal government, 73 million Americans—nearly a third of the population—either have diabetes outright or are well on their way down that road. And many of them are totally unaware of the danger they’re in because diabetes is a stealth disease in which excessive amounts of glucose (blood sugar) does its dirty work quietly over decades, sometimes until a damaged heart or kidney goes critical or a seemingly minor foot infection results in a battle to avoid amputation. But more often people learn they have “the sugar” after visiting the doctor for excessive fatigue or thirst, or after routine bloodwork reveals high glucose levels.

It’s no accident that the danger posed by diabetes grows as the national waistline expands. Obesity is actually fueling the diabetes epidemic, to the extent that this double terror now has its own name—diabesity. “More and more people are becoming aware of the linkage between obesity and diabetes,” says Francine Kaufman, MD, director of the Comprehensive Childhood Diabetes Center at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles, professor at the Keck School of Medicine/USC and author of Diabesity (Bantam Dell). “Policy makers, and healthcare and public health authorities, are aware of the progression from one to the other.”

Diabetes occurs in two main forms. In type 1 the body’s immune system attacks cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, which shepherds glucose (blood sugar) from the bloodstream into cells. Without natural insulin, glucose reaches unhealthy levels—defined as a fasting blood-sugar count of 126 mg/dl or more—which can only be controlled by injected insulin. As type 1’s old name, juvenile diabetes, would indicate, this disorder usually starts in childhood.

Type 2 (originally called adult onset diabetes) arises when cells stop responding to insulin (a condition called insulin resistance), and insulin and glucose levels rise together. Type 2 is the one linked to obesity and lack of physical activity, and is generally controlled by a combination of diet, exercise and medication. Sometimes the pancreas works so hard to produce excess insulin for such a long time that the insulin-generating cells burn out; the unfortunate victim then develops type 1 diabetes on top of type 2 and must add injections to his or her daily regimen. Both types can lead to a whole host of complications including limb loss and blindness.

One reason for the change in terminology is that what used to be called adult onset diabetes is now being seen in younger and younger patients, thanks to the wave of childhood obesity that has swept the ...

The Female Diabetes Danger Zone

Diabetes is a major heart hazard no matter who you are. But if you’re a woman dealing with this disorder, the news gets worse: While death rates for men with diabetes have dropped over recent years, those for women have remained disturbingly unchanged. Learn why abnormally high blood-sugar levels present more of a peril to women—and how proper nutrition and lifestyle can help reduce your risk.

February 2008

By Lisa James

Failing kidneys, damaged nerves, amputated limbs, dimmed vision—perhaps no other disorder takes more of a toll on the human body than diabetes. But the deadliest consequence of uncontrolled glucose, or blood sugar, is how it harms the heart. Cardiovascular disease and stroke account for roughly 65% of all deaths among people with diabetes, rates that are two to four times higher than those among nondiabetic adults.

Women’s lives are especially threatened. Last June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that while the death rate for the nearly 11 million men with diabetes dropped by 43% from 1971 to 2000, the rate for the nearly 10 million afflicted women was stagnant.

Scientists do not yet understand all the reasons why, but they are looking at several possibilities. “One factor might be less of an improvement in cardiovascular risk factors among diabetic women,” says Edward Gregg, PhD, the CDC epidemiologist who led the mortality study (Annals of Internal Medicine 8/7/07). “Rates of smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol have come down among men. These risk factors have come down somewhat among women, but the improvements, among diabetic women at least, have not been as great.” Women may not be treated as aggressively for both diabetes and heart disease as men, and Gregg says it’s even possible that “the process by which diabetes affects heart disease is different between the sexes.”

In response to this threat, the CDC and three other public health organizations have developed the National Public Health Initiative on Diabetes and Women’s Health. The idea, says Gregg, is “to identify the main opportunities to reduce risk for women.”

Hidden Danger

Part of the problem is that type 2 diabetes, the most common form, does much of its deadly work quietly over a number of years. It generally begins as insulin resistance, in which the body’s ability to use insulin, the substance that transports glucose from the bloodstream into the cells to be burned for energy, is impaired. The pancreas, a gland located behind the stomach, tries to produce more and more insulin to meet the ever-rising demand. Eventually, the pancreas wears out and loses its abil­ity to produce any insulin at all. Lifestyle—excess calories and stress, minimal exercise and relaxation—plays a major role in this process. A family history of diabetes is another factor, with seven new genetic links discovered just within the past year, but the balance between genetics and lifestyle has not yet been quantified.

Trouble from Head to Toe

A big part of dealing successfully with diabetes involves keeping a step ahead of its complications, which include blurred vision, foot problems and everything in between. Fortunately, there are natural ways to overcome the obstacles excess blood sugar can place in your path.

By Karyn Maier

July 2006

I used to taunt my older sibling about being a “Super Sister,” one that even Marcia Brady would envy. She was an honor roll student, master of numerous musical instruments, had a leading role in nearly every school play and served on every committee and club. If that wasn’t enough, she was also a teenage model. Nothing, it seemed, could slow that young lady down—until a simple shopping trip would prove to be a life-changing speed bump.

“I was walking down the middle of the mall one day and suddenly I wasn’t able to see,” my sister recalls. “Everything was so blurry, I could barely get back to the car. In hindsight, my symptoms were classic. Weight loss, feeling hungry, fatigue, frequent nightly visits to the bathroom—they were all there.”

At first, we wondered if a lingering upper respiratory infection might be to blame. But blood tests revealed that my sister’s blood-sugar level was in the low 800s, a measurement nearly seven times above normal range. Not surprisingly, she was immediately admitted to the hospital where, at the age of 24, she was diagnosed with the sixth leading cause of death in the US—diabetes (in her case, it was type 1).

Now in her 40s, with a successful career in marketing, this mother of two still does it all and enjoys a full life—but not one free of challenges. While most moms might be hustling the kids out the door on a busy morning, my sister sticks her daughter’s finger to determine the daily routine. Like her mother, my 10-year-old niece is also diabetic, and every day is a juggling duet to balance insulin, glucose readings and dietary carbohydrates several times a day among school, sports and client meetings.

The Diabetic Downfall

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which blood-sugar (glucose) levels are above normal—either the body doesn’t produce enough of the hormone insulin, which breaks down sugar in the blood, or cannot utilize its own insulin as it should. Diabetes can cause serious health complications including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and even limb loss. The good news is that if you are one of the 20.8 million Americans struggling with diabetes (type 1 and type 2 combined) there are natural approaches to help avoid these life-threatening conditions.

It’s important to understand how high levels of glucose in the bloodstream cause damage and lead to serious complications. The most significant problem is glycation, the same process that causes food to brown in the oven. Glycation occurs when simple sugar molecules (such as glucose) attach to proteins to create sugar-damaged proteins called advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs). Some AGEs are benign, but others i...

This page provides relevant content and local businesses that can help with your search for information on Arthritis Treatment.
You will find informative articles about Arthritis Treatment, including "Feed Your Joints".
Below you will also find local businesses that may provide the products or services you are looking for.
Please scroll down to find the local resources in Bismarck, ND that can help answer your questions about Arthritis Treatment.